Us Weekend Guide: Animated Avatar Exceeds the Pre-Release Hype

Already watched this week's episode of Jersey Shore more times than you'd like to admit? We've rounded up a few other must-see alternatives for the weekend's best movie releases and TV shows.

This Friday, writer-director James Cameron's animated Avatar hits theaters 12 years after Titanic. Does the effects-heavy epic about a paraplegic veteran (Sam Worthington) who inhabits an alien body meet the hype? It exceeds it, says Us' David Guggenheim. Moviegoers should definitely keep an eye out for the impassioned performance of Zoe Saldana, who appears as an alien native in the flick.

Reality TV fans can get their fill this weekend as CBS' Survivor crowns its 19th champion on Sunday. While it remains to be seen if devilish big guy Russell Hantz walk away with the cool $1 million prize, one thing is for certain: the show's live reunion show, airing after the two-hour finale at 10 p.m./ET, is sure to get heated.

Kyra Sedgwick's The Closer caps its fifth season this Monday with a gripping finale that investigates a case of domestic abuse involving an LAPD detective. Making things tougher: marital friction between Sedgwick's Brenda and Fritz (Jon Tenney) and having to work alongside her nemesis, Captain Raydor (Mary McDonnell).